The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 12, 1987 - Page 5
MSA adds extra polling
site
By MICHAEL LUSTIG
and MARTHA SEVETSON
MSA election officials have set
up a North Campus Commons
polling site after members of the
Engineering Council and the Blue
party charged the assembly with
preventing students on North
Campus from voting in next
week's elections.
Last week, the council un-
animously approved a resolution to
call for more North Campus
polling places. David Vogel, an
engineering junior and Blue party
vice presidential candidate, sub-
mitted a petition to MSA election
director Ann Shanahan outlining
his party's objections.
The petition accused election
officials of making a "political
decision to not let Engineering have
increased polling hours."
Last year, 25 percent of
engineering students voted, much
higher than the campus average of
15 percent. Vogel said election
managers are restricting polling
hours to help the more liberal
parties. Last year, most engineering
students did not vote for the
relatively liberal Students Rights
party.
"I originally agreed that
engineering students did not have as
Bruce Belcher, head of MSA's
rules and elections committee, said,
"I actually think it's unfair to the
advantage of the engineers" to in-
crease polling stations. He said the
polls are set up so that they are
open for two-and-a-half hours per
MSA seat. Last year, he said, the
only polling place on North
Campus open solely to engineers
was in the Dow Building.
much access to polling sites as
other students," Shanahan said. She
added that after a conference with
Richard Layman, MSA's admin-
istrative coordinator, they decided
that increasing polling hours is
unfair to other schools.
"There is no way to accomodate
this complaint because of a lack of
staffing and resources," she said.
But Roberto Frisancho, a current
MSA representative and Blue party
candidate, believes the assembly is
attempting to stop engineers from
voting because of last year's high
voter turnout.
Students First party stresses
experience in MSA campaign
(Continued from Page 1)
MSA presidential candidate and
LSA junior Ken Weine has been an
assembly representative for two
years. Weine is the chair of the
Student Rights Committee and a
member of the University Council.
Weine says his experience comes
from grassroots organizing -
working with several groups to
fight the adoption of a code of non-
academic conduct with academic
sanctions.
The Students First party wants
to build a network for the minority
community through the MSA
Minority Affairs Committee.
"There seems to be a gap between
the minority community and
MSA," Weine said. "The way to
fill that gap is to increase minority
representation at MSA and to have
liaisons to organizations such as
the Black Student Union." The
party slate includes six minority
candidates.
Felton and Weine both worked
with the Public Interest Research
Group in Michigan this term to
propose a funding mechanism
through MSA.
Protecting students rights in
both on- and off-campus housing is
also a target of the Students First
party platform. Felton and Weine
want to send a liaison to the Ann
Arbor City Council so that they
will be better prepared to face issues
such as the Burns Park rezoning
proposal.
Weine and Felton do not support
assembly efforts to limit dis-
cussions and resolutions to campus
issues, preventing its involvement
in national and international issues.
WEEKEND
MAGAZINE
Fridays in The Daily
763-0379
Cleaning up ! Associated Press
A resident of Chosica, 25 miles from Lima, Peru, struggles to remove
mud from his home. The man's house was one of many homes in Chosica
which were flooded by the Rimac River on Monday.
AIDS
spreads
to young
adults
(Continued from Page 1)
For young adults, education and
frank discussion are the most
important defenses against AIDS:
the IOM-NAS said this age group
is often misinformed about the
disease. Forty percent did not know
AIDS is caused by infection from a
virus, and four out of 10 did not
know the use of a condom helps
stop the spread of AIDS according
to the group's report.
Two weeks ago, a University
medical school faculty member
submitted a proposal to the state
board of health to develop a study
to determine how to improve AIDS
educational programs for young
adults.
NANCY PALCHIK, an
instructor in post-graduate medical
education, said the study will
develop new and evaluate already
existing programs focusing on this
relatively unstudied group. Palchik
said young adults run a risk of
contracting AIDS because of
increased experimentation with sex
and drugs.
Since 1981, there have been
30,632 cases of AIDS in the United
States, with 17,542 deaths. The
number of people infected with the
virus is predicted to rise to 1
million to 1.5 million by 1991,
with 20 to 30 percent developing
into full cases of AIDS. In
Michigan, there have been 280
cases and 158 deaths.
AIDS results from a virus called
HIV which destroys the body's
immune system and can be
transmitted through intimate sexual
contact or by exposure to
contaminated blood. Transmission A
only occurs when these infected
substances are introduced directly
into another person, but it is not
contagious through casual contact.
A THE NUMBER of people
vwho have contracted the disease.
through heterosexual intercourse
has risen, but this represents fewer
than four percent of all reported
cases.
There are many nationwide and
statewide hotlines set up to answer
concerns about AIDS. Wellness
Networks (800-872-AIDS or 547-
9040) is a statewide non-profit
organization which provides
education, information, referral, and
direct support services for AIDS and
AIDS-related conditions.
Scott Walton, executive director
of the Detroit-based service, said
counselors have noticed a large
increase in the number of calls in
the last year. The service had 7,000
calls in 1986 and that figure has